The Next Voice You Hear (From China) Will Be Propaganda

According to the Washington Post report "After Silence, China Mounts Product Safety PR Offensive " as China seeks to keep sending it's questionable foods to the US they will be employing the American lobbyists to spam the news and other media and Congress with talking points even as they attack American products.

 On the lobbying, talking points side, it will interesting to see who takes the money or at least the bait.

WP was given talking points and used them to expose the gambit.  But the big money is in getting the  TV News to report on it.

Will they report on the lobbying or just repeat the talking points?

And I wonder who will be the first writer to take Chinese money for editorials.

Was it this guy?  "A Taste of Racism in the Chinese Food Scare " 

Chef and gustatory adventurer Anthony Bourdain may have said it best in a 2006 Salon interview in which he noted that there's "something kind of racist" about culinary xenophobia: "Fear of dirt is often indistinguishable from the fear of unnamed dirty people."

No Sir.  The fear of dirt is the fear of dying too early, or even worse my children dying young, from some horrible excruciating disease.

And speaking of propaganda, the Bush administration announces it's working on tougher measures (to head off measures by the Democratically controlled Congress?) according to a NYT report "Tougher Safety Rules Are Prepared for Imports ".

Keep your eye on that.  The Bush administration makes lots of promises, but if you aren't a fat cat with lots of money to put into right wing politics, then don't hold your breath waiting for change. 

More recent news on China:

According to a Reuters report "China Currency Legislation Likely: U.S. Lawmaker ":, Congress may pass bipartisan law to slap duties on imports due to Chinese monetary manipulations or under another version any nation that manipulates their currency to flood the US with imports.  

This is another thing to keep the eye on.  Will this legislation survive or will the rich getting richer have it killed.  An even bigger question is whether President Bush will sign it?

And we might ask ourselves who we are suporting when we buy Chinese products.

NYT: China: Dissident Dies Shortly After Release

Is it racism to note that China still jails its dissidents?  And apparently the incarcerations are under pretty brutal conditions. 

And, the execution of a Food and Drug Safety head that hadn't been in office for almost 2 years to mitigate current problems with food and products from China does nothing for my ability to trust them.  The extreme grotesqueness of the situation makes me want to turn over packages and see where products come from.

Well immediate action is needed and China is taking it. 

China suspends some U.S. meat imports the report indicates this is retaliation for US blocking imports of Chinese foods and products, but if what the Chinese authorities are saying about the products is true (read report for details) then they should be blocked, but China seems to be saying we all send each other dirty and tainted food so lets call it even.  

My idea:  Hey, lets inspect all exports and imports.  That's even.  Even if it's not what the Chinese were pushing for.

IHT also notes that China is attempting to kill the messenger.

A Reuters report "China tells food companies to put safety first " shows that China is exhorting it's manufacturers to make better products and more importantly it's domestic news media to stop reporting on food and drug problems like a bogus rabies vaccine. 

tags: china  food safety  

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